A putty knife benefits from having a smooth blade surface when applying and smoothing semisolid materials, such as putty or mortar. A smooth blade surface improves the resultant surface quality of the applied semisolid material. Materials such as putty or epoxy may dry and adhere to the surface of the putty knife, which may result in degraded performance during its next use, due to the rough surface of the dried putty adhering to the blade surface of the putty knife, thereby preventing uniform application of the putty.
Adhered putty materials may require time-consuming manual or mechanical cleaning so as to return the putty knife to its original smooth condition. Furthermore, manual or mechanical cleaning methods for removing dried and solid adhered materials may cause damage to the surface of the putty knife due to wiping, sanding, abrading or scraping of the dried and solid adhered materials from the blade surface, thereby degrading the quality of the blade, impairing its performance, and reducing its useful life.
It is known to make putty knifes with smooth surfaces and non stick surfaces, but obtaining a clean putty knife still requires manual cleaning of the blade after use.